Love not Lost
by DR-Don
Summary: Itachi never committed genocide the elimination of a race or group of people, but he did kill. Now, after seven years of training, he returns to Kohona to find peace and maybe love. I suck at summaries, sorry.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Uchiha Itachi stood there panting heavily. He looked at all of the targets, all having a kunai or shuriken in each one. Totaling to about 20 targets. He hated himself, hated what he had become: nothing more than a tool for his family to try and keep some control of Konoha. At the age of seven he had his shurigan, at the age of eight, he had graduated the academy, at the age of ten he became a jounin. He joined the ANBU at the age of fourteen and became a captain only two years later. So, here he stands, wishing he could be somewhere else, anywhere else. He would do exactly that, the plans were laid to leave tonight with his best friend, Uchiha Shisui.

He thought back, to the way life used to be for him. The peace that life once held, remembering watching his little brother start to become a man, become a genin. He would watch Saske, Sakura and Naruto as they trained under Kakashi-sensei. He watched as Sakura grew to love his little brother, watched as that love became a very solid friendship. The bond between those three was unbreakable. Itachi would watch Saske and Sakura spar, admiring Sakura's stamina and charkara control as she held her own against someone as strong as Saske, that was saying something. Sometimes, when he could, he would sneak away to watch Naruto and Hinata spar, Naruto being the only one that could withstand the chakara holes being closed without damage being done. The four would practice hours on end. Enjoying each others company, not knowing that they were under close scrutiny. Itachi didn't watch them with the desire to destroy them, but with the interest of learning new techniques. While he could not perform the Gentle Fist like someone with Hinata's skill, he could kill someone. He had practiced on animals, killing them and then reviving them but pumping chakura into the areas on either side of the heart.

Itachi prepared to leave the area he was practicing in, which was in the middle of the woods so as not to be disturbed. His mind was on the meeting tonight with Shisui, they planned to permanently leave Konoha. On the way back to his house, he thought about his family, his mother, always so supportive of the decisions he made; his father who always demanded that he be perfect; and lastly his little brother, the only one of which his was going to miss. He knew that he was going to miss seeing his little brother grow older and beat many of his records. Whether or not their father knew it, Sasuke would exceed everything that Itachi did, he knew this, his brother worked so hard, it would happen.

He reached the house and slipped off his shoes before entering. He walked quietly to the kitchen, "everyone else had already eaten, good" he thought. He quickly grab some food to eat and some extra to take with him on his trip out of Konoha. He then quietly slipped over to his room and packed all of his clothes that did not have the Uchiha symbol on them, which happened to be not much, a few pairs of pants, a couple of shirts, and a jacket. All of this was tightly packed into his bag with the food that he had taken from the kitchen. He quickly grabbed a blanket stuffing it in on top and put what money he had in his pocket. Making an instant decision, he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a short note to his little brother telling him that he was forever leaving.

After making sure that everything had been done, he left the house quietly, putting on his shoes as he walked out of the door. He quickly and quietly ran to the river to meet Shisui. The reason they were best friends was because they had a common hatred for Konoha and what it represented to them. There was one major difference that Itachi was soon to find out. When he reached the river, Shisui was already there waiting on him.

"Hello, Itachi" greed Shisui.

"Hi, ready?"

"Not quite, I have some unfinished business to take care of first."

"What do you mean 'unfinished buisness'?" asked Itachi becoming unsure of the situation.

"I have an idea of how we can repay all of those bastards for how we are treated."

"WHAT! I thought the plan was to just peacefully leave and not return!"

"It was . . . but I changed my mind, I want vengeance, for everything, everything that they did, how they forced you to be someone you aren't, how they forced me to do things that I hated doing, I want payback!"

"What did you have in mind?" asked Itachi wanting to know and hoping that he would be able to stop his best friend before something really bad happened.

"Oh, not much, I just planned on killing them all, making them pay with their lives."

"Shisui, you may be my best friend, and I may hate what they have done, but I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL THEM! I will kill you first." Itachi activated his shuringan and pulled out an kunai, preparing to attack.

Shisui just stood there looking at Itachi like he would never do something like that, but when the kunai came flying straight at his face, he realized how serious Itachi was. Easily avoiding the kunai by shifting his head to the side, Shisui jumped into the trees, preparing to fight and kill Itachi.

Itachi started to chase after Shisui when out of nowhere an explosive tag attached to a kunai exploded right next to him, flinging him back up against a tree causing him to cry out in pain. Itachi slowly got back up and started to try to find Shisui. At that moment, Shisui appeared right in front of him, which caught Itachi by surprise. Before Shisui could make anymore attacks, Itachi rushed towards him. This being an unusual technique for someone like Itachi, Shisui was unsure of what was happening. Quickly backing away, back into the cover of the trees, Shisui sends out a clone. Trying to assess what the Uchiha man was up to. The Uchiha quickly detected the clone and quickly sent a clone to battle it while he looked for the real Shisui. Upon finding the real Shisui about 20 meters away from the battle the clones were having, Itachi slowly and carefully snuck around behind him. With a heavy heart, he prepared for the death of his best friend, knowing how much he hated himself for it. But knowing that if he allowed Shisui to live, the Clan would not. With chakura in both hands, he quickly stabbed Shisui on both sides of his heart, and watch as his best friend fell dead, ten meters to the ground.

With tears in his eyes, he turned his eyes back to normal and slowly carried the body to the middle of the river and let it start to float in his arms. He removed his arms and watched Shisui's body float down the river. Wishing he could have someone offered himself instead of his best friend, Itachi made the preparations to leave Kohona, possibly for good. He was thankful that atleast his friend's death had been swifty and painless. Reguardless of what he had been thinking, he understood, which is why he had to talk to Tsunade-sama quickly.

At the Hokage's office, Itachi took care to relate the whole story, not leaving out any details. Tsuande sent him out of the village until she could figure out how to deal with this situation.

Itachi quickly and quietly ran to the West Gate and left Kohona, not knowing if he would ever be able to return to the public world. Tsuande-sama had promised him that he could come and visit, but must be discreet about it, and never contact anyone but herself. Knowing that she would not lie to him, he left with a heavy heart, wishing for one last chance to see the one he had fallen in love with.


	2. Itachi's Return

I do not in ANY WAY own Naruto. But, alas, this is my fate. 

Chapter 1: Itachi's Return--After 7 long years of being away, Itachi finally returns to Kohona.

Itachi sat in a tree, looking down at his teacher, Jiraiya-sama. They were almost back to Kohona. It had been 7 years since he had last walked through the gates of Kohona. It has been seven years since he killed his best friend in battle, seven years since he had this sharingan. Life was so much simpler then, being able to watch and help his little brother train. If he missed anyone from Kohona, it was Sasuke. He was so proud when he had seen his little brother graduate from the Achedemy at the top of his class. He refused to be ashamed of what had transpired that had forced the Hokage to send him on a seven year mission, and of course he just HAD to be taken into the discipleship of the most perverted person in the country. Jiraiya-sama was a good teacher, he would show Itachi how to do something, things that could be copied and things that couldn't be copied, and force Itachi to find ways to use them the most stragically in a fight, one-on-one or him against several people.

Generally, Jiraiya-sama would 'research' while Itachi did this. He had learned a great many techniques, not just the higher level things, but had relearned the basics, how to use them better with his bloodline limit, and was forced to learn how to fight without using his 'special' abilities, the last part was said to be 'just in case' but Itachi had a strong feeling that is was so that the pervert could go spy on naked women. His taijutus was good, very good in fact. Jiraiya-sama had seen to that, he was born to fight, born to kill, he was a shinobi and everything it represented. It just sucked sometimes, always intimidating the other shinobi, he really had no friends other than Jiraiya. As much as he hated leaving Kohona, he wasn't sure about returning. It had been so long since he had seen his brother and his brother's teammates. He wondered if Sakura's hair every changed to a normal color, if Naruto ever learned how to be quiet, or if Sasuke had learned how to master his bloodline limit. Itachi thought about his parents that day for the umpteenth time, how much they must be disappointed in their son, the murderer of his best friend. He wasn't naive, he knew rumors would have flown around the village, making his life when he returned a mess.

"Hey, Itachi, we had better get a move on if we want to get to an inn and a decent bed by nightfall!" Jiraiya yelled while Itachi just looked at him like he had lost his mind. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of being riled, he just got up and started flying through the trees with Jirariya-sama right on his heels. After traveling for a couple more hours by using chakra, they reached the East gate of Kohona. Jiraiya had already sent a frog ahead of them to tell the Hokage that they would be in before night and go immidiately to the Hokage's office. The guards at the gate let them by with not much more than a cursory glance, obviously already having been given orders to let them by to go to the tower. Itachi stopped just inside of the gates and looked at the buildings, the memories assulted his brain as he thought about how much had changed since he last left his home. The Hokage had assured him an apartment until all of the mess about his return settled, so that if he was not welcomed back into his home by his family, he had a place to stay. At the Hokage's office, he noticed that Tsuande still refused to show her age, he smirked, just like he remembered. "So, how was the trip, did you find out any information on the other countries?" Tsuande asked once they were all seated and had drinks and snacks in hand. Itachi answered before Jirariya could speak up. "Hai, Stone is ify-they aren't sure if they want to do something about Kohona yet. Sand is by you one hundred percent and they are also keeping an eye on Stone, seeing as how Stone always loves to stir up trouble, but none of the other villages have any feelings or cares about us one way or the other. They really don't want to be involved in a war and can't really afford it anyway. Especially after the last war, they're all still rebuilding, in all ways, just like we are"

Tsuande looked suprised that they had learned so much about the countries and tried to figure out which political figures they were able to contact. Other than Sand, Tsuande had not been able to come to any solid conclusions about any of the other countries. "Ok, well, good job, Itachi. Jirariya, how is Itachi's training going? And I really hope you had the deciency to behave yourself when you were gone for so long, but somehow I highly doubt that."

Gulp "Tsuande, the boy has been taught well, he has taken his jounin exam and passed and now wishes to try out for ANBU. I think he is ready, he's been doing 'A' rank missions for some time now and has enough experience and mental stability to do well there"  
"Very well. Itachi, I will speak with ANBU and let you know when your test dates will be, probably in about a month, maybe two. In the mean time, I want you to get settled and relax, you will have no missions until after your ANBU testing, you need the break. Take this time to talk to your family, especially your little brother, he missed you. He is still on the same team as Naruto and Sakura, they have come to be the strong 3 man team we have, and since Sakura is one of the best medic-nin (and trust me, with those two, they need her on that team) they are very formitable. They all just made jounin, which is rare for all members of a team to make it in the same exam, but they did. Your brother is a strong person, and I'm sure he'll want to see you." Turning to Jiraiya, she said, "you are to stick around for a while, I want you here for his ANBU testing, and I want you to work with Naruto some while you are here, pass on some of The Fourth's techniques to his son, and yes he does know who his parents are. He's proud, and I know his parents are proud of him, I am. Teach him to summon. Ok, well I think that's it for the evening, I've got some more work to finish up before Shizune yells at me for not completing my work, blah, blah, blah. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura should be here soon if you want to see them now, Itachi, if not, they are going to pick you up for some training tomorrow."

Deciding to wait around for his brother and friends, Itachi sat in the hall, and big surprise, Jiraiya decided to go hit the bar and maybe the pools. Itachi smirked, knowing his sensei's habits so well. After about twenty minutes of waiting, he heard a loud laugh and soft giggling, followed soon by three people turning the corner only to spot him sitting next to Tsunade's door. All three stopped dead in their tracks. Itachi merely got up, not being one to shop lots of emotion, and just gave a slight wave while locking eyes with his little brother. He had grown up so much, he was 19 now, and a man. He was tall, with long black hair, similar in style to that of Itachi's. He wore solid black shorts and shirt with the family emblem on the front of the shirt. The jacket he was wearing was, surprise black, with the family emblem on the back. The ninja shoes he wore were black, as opposed to Naruto's and Sakura's blue shoes. Itachi thought of how much they really looked like brother nows, except for the family emblem missing in Itachi's clothes, the outfits were almost identical. Sakura still had the vibrant, pink, hair, but now chose to wear a black tank top that barely covered her tight, well-toned stomach, and lose black shorts, much like Sasuke's and the blue ninja sandals. Naruto, had traded in the orange outfit for something in black, that looked amazingly similar to the orange suit he used to wear, and it still sported his fanimly emblem on it as well. Itachi thought to himself 'what is up with the black in these guys!' Smirking he said, "Well, Little Brother, you've grown, look good, any girlfriend yet"  
Sasuke smirked right back at him, like no time had lasped between them, and replied "seven years of being away and the first thing you ask is if I have a girlfriend! Geez, whatever happened, to 'hi, how are you, how are the folks?' Itachi, it's good to see you, I am glad that you're back safely. Sakura, Naruto, you should remember Itachi, my brother. He used to watch us practice before he left for that seven year mission." Sasuke stepped forward and hugged Itachi in a quick manly hug. "Itachi, I'm glad you made it back safely, Sasuke-kun would have been very sad had something happened to you. I hear that you're a jounin now, maybe you could teach us some new techniques on your time off, that is if you don't have anything else you need to do. Naruto, stop looking like that, Itachi-san could probably teach us lots of new techniques"

"Hai, hai, Itachi-san, please, teach us your techniques, we'll be sponge-like, nice and absorbant" At this point Itachi just started chuckling at this point. Just as Sakura turned to tell Naruto off for being an smart ass, Itachi jumped "Please, don't be so formal with, 'Itachi' is fine. And yes, I've got a month or so off and Tsunade-sama asked me to watch you guys, maybe teach you some new jutus. I want to catch up with Sasuke and our parents, but other than that, I'm all yours. Naruto, stop looking at me like that or I'm going to practice a few jutsus on you to make sure I have them down right." At this point, Sakura was trying very hard not to laugh at Naruto's crestfallen facial expression, and Sasuke just smirked knowing he would have threatened something along the sames lines. "Well, guys, I'm starving, it's been a long trip and a while since I've had some decent food, so where are we going to eat"

Sasuke just smirked knowing that ramen was going to be the choice of food for the blond. Sakura sighed, tired of eating ramen all of the time, and thinking that they really had to find him a new food to eat. Naruto just grinned knowing that he could easily talk them into getting ramen, half of the fun being to drive his two teammates nuts. He liked ramen, but he didn't eat it nearly as much as what he allowed them to think.

During dinner, the four of them enjoyed a couple of hours of catching up, Sasuke came out of his shell to tell a couple of stories about how much of a dobe Naruto is on missions. Naruto telling story after story of how great the three of them work together as well as stories about Hinata, his girlfriend. Sakura just sat there and enjoyed the conversation flowing around her, observing Itachi, she had taken to being almost as quiet as Sasuke sometimes, something many people found unnerving. There was something about Itachi that caught Sakura's attention, she wasn't sure what it was, but was intrigued enough to want to find out sometime in the future. Itachi told stories about his sensei and all of the trouble he seemed to cause no matter where he went to. During all of dinner, Itachi saw Sakura watching him, not openly, but she was definately thinking something. Writing it off as pure curiousity, Itachi decided to call it a night and thanked Naruto for the wonderful ramen. As he was leaving he could hear Naruto pitching a fit and Sakura laughing at him. Sasuke came out right behind him. After walking around town a couple of times, Itachi decided he would have to talk to Sasuke about whatever was on his mind if he was going to be able to go to bed anytime soon. Turning around and stopping, Itachi wispered "I know you're there, Sasuke, come out and say what you have to say, I've had a really long day and want to get some sleep"

"Hai, I was just wondering about the rumors that flew around about HIS death. You left right after it happened and the Hokage refused to even listen to what people said or answer questions"

"I figured that was what this about. Sasuke, I don't know what the rumors where, but I can only imagine. The prodegy, before he even reached full potential, up and killed his best friend in cold blooded murder." Pause. "It was seven years ago, almost to the day, but I remember it so well. You and mom and dad were asleep. I was planning on leaving, I couldn't take the stress of being the son that dad wanted me to be. I was going to start over somewhere else with that . . . that bastard. He wanted to kill the whole village, you, mom, dad, all of our cousins and family, EVERYONE. But I couldn't let him do that, not to you most of all. You were so innocent, so young, I could NOT let anyone spill blood like that, no matter what the reason. Our parents . . . our parents, they would have almost deserved that, the pain and agony they pushed me through to be so perfect, to make them proud. I hated them for it, I really did. But I loved you, I loved you so much, and your innocence that I couldn't let him take that from you. I killed him to keep him from killing you. I'm sorry for the pain that you felt, thinking I abandoned you, I didn't. I'm glad you became what you are. You're a good man, and you'll make the girl you're thinking of very happy one day." Itachi winked as Sasuke and then left him standing there with his jaw hanging open like a fish.

I will not be posting this as often as what it first seems because I have already gotten the first few chapters done. So enjoy, and I'll try and get them up as soon as I can.


	3. Training Begins

Itachi sat in his apartment, unable to sleep, not really wanting to sleep. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed himself so much. Sasuke had grown up to be a good man, a strong ninja, god he hated that he had to miss those times with him. He hadn't been able to be there for him, like he wanted to be. Sakura had grown into a beautiful women, strong, lean, and he had a feeling that she was the kind of person that you should avoid pissing off at all costs. Itachi smirked at this thought. And Naruto, he had matured, and he really needed it. He was a good kid, he had admirable goals, god how he wished he could have said the same thing about himself when he was younger. 

At the sound of someone knocking on the door, he jumped, grabbing a kunai before opening it a crack to see who could possibly be calling at this hour when he just got home. Seeing the pink hair, he quickly put the kunai away and opened the door further. "Sakura, what are you doing here?"

"I heard your conversation with Sasuke, he's not ashamed of you, you know. He talks about how disappointed your parents are in what happened, but he's always been proud of you, proud of your memory. He knew that there was more to the stories he heard about you than what was being told to him. I'm glad you're back, he talked more this evening than he had for the past two weeks. But it seems that you're much the same way. So go figure. But I just thought you might like to know that. I didn't mean to step in where I'm not wanted, especailly when it comes to family matters."

Itachi's draw dropped, he had hardly heard her say more than two sentences all night and Sasuke was quiet! This is not how he had expected to spend his first evening back. "Thank you, for all of that, would you like to come in for some tea or something?"

"No, I have to be going, but I thought you would like to know that about Sasuke. The three of us are close, makes dating for me hell, but Iwouldn't trade them. They're the brothers I wasn't given at birth, and we've grown to love eachother, in spite of what you might have heard tonight. Have a good evening, Itachi-kun, sorry, I can't just call you 'Itachi' my mother would skin me alive if I ever did that to my elder." With that said, she was gone. 'Damn, she was fast, might be able to keep up with me,' Itachi thought.

Closing the door to the outside and the thoughts of tonight, he was now emotionally wiped out. He walked back to the masterbed room in his new apartment and got undressed, then slipped into bed to sleep a heavy sleep full of dreams of his brother and team.

_**/Next Scene/**_

Sakura slowly walked back to her apartment. She couldn't believe that she had followed Itachi to his apartment, much less not been noticed. She was almost ashamed that she had over heard Itachi and Sasuke talking . . . almost. Not knowing what had overcome her senses, she decided to take a run around Kohona to clear her mind and tire her body so she could sleep. Finally being able to rest her body and block out her mind, Sakura returned to her apartment, having moved out of her parents house a few years ago, and took a long hot shower. The day had been a good one, long but good. And now she was ready for bed, turning off the water, she climbed out of the tub and grabbed a towel to dry herself off. After wrapping another towel around her wet hair, she crawled into bed and quickly fell into a deep slumber.

_**/Next Scene/**_

Sakura was the first one to arrive at the bridge the next morning. It was barely dawn, but she had been up for over an hour already, running on her own. She enjoyed her early morning exercises, they always helped to clear her mind. After about twenty minutes of listening to the birds and meditating, she sense a charkra signature coming closer. She could tell that it was Sasuke, always arived to train before Naruto did. For some reason, Naruto had started to honor Kakashi time, go figure. "Sasuke, you're early." Going back to her mediation, Sakura ignored Sasuke's presence. Sasuke began to think on this, this had become thier morning ritual for a over a year now. Sakura had stopped chasing him, and half of the time ignored him. He didn't really mind, they understood eachother, they were like siblings, the sister he never had. Now only if the loud mouth would hurry up they could get started with handicapped sparring (two-on-one). Appearing as if on thought, Naruto finally arrived.

"Finally, you dobe, we can get started. We'll take you first." With that, both Sakura and Sasuke lept into the trees to start stragies. Sakura was almost as good as Shikumaru at them. "Sakura, what do you think we should do today?"

Before she could think up of a good idea to take him down, Itachi appeared beside them. "I think you should send out a Kage Bushin and attempt to take him underground, Sasuke, then Sakura suprise him by taking him on one-on-one with your chakura strength, it would help build up your stamina." With that, he jumped back and hid in the trees.

"He, um, he actually had a good idea, Sakura, you need to work on stamina, and it'll give me time to come up with something to attack him with while you're busy."

"Whatever, works for me." With that Sasuke was gone and Sakura waited for her cue to jump into the fight.

Itachi sat on a branch on the other side of the fight, watching the three, he knew Sakura's stamina wasn't as good as what it could be, so he wanted to help her build it up before he taught them anything complex. Sasuske and Naruto had the stamina, but not the kind of chakura control that Sakura had. An interesting trade off. She had gotten better, much better in fact, but there was still more potiential for her. After watching the three of them battle eachother, he saw how much they had learned the seven years he was gone. He was beginning to see why they worked so well together, throughout the whole morning, trading off the handicap, no one got a real advantage off of eachother. The three as a team would be close to unstopable. It looked as if they could almost predict eachother's thoughts and attacks before they could be launched.

At lunch the three of them stopped and Itachi came out of the trees to talk to go to lunch with them. "Wow, you guys are good, unbelieveable. I have never seen a team like this. No wonder Tsunade-sama did not want to break you guys up. Just a few comments, Sakura your chakura control is amazing, it is very obvious that you learned alot from Tsunade-sama, but you need to work on stamina, it's improved,but it could be better. Naruto, you're to eager for close range fighting, we'll work on your long range fighting. Sasuke, the exact opposite, and both of you will work on chakura control. Granted not to the extent of Sakura, but you need to learn how to focus it more, conserve it better. Well, that's it, how about lunch? Then we'll get to work with building up your skills."

Sakura was impressed, no one, not even Tsunade could get those two to listen like they just did. "It's Itachi-kun's treat for lunch today, and there's a new restaurant I want to try, Naruto that look isn't going to work on me."

The restuarant, much to Naruto's and Sasuke's humor and Itachi's dismay, was a really nice italian restuarant. After sitting down and placing their orders, Sakura sat back to enjoy the fight that she knew was forthcoming with Naruto and Sasuke, they always argued or something close to when they all had lunch together, which was just about every day. As the disagreement on when to use kage bushins ensued, Itachi just sat there, not sure what to do. Sakura just grinned, knowing this would last all of lunch. They loved to do this especially in front of other people as it kept embarrassing moments from happening too often. It was a pattern that they had all become confortable with.

After lunch, the four of them made their way back to the clearing. Itachi then started in on what he wanted each of them to do. "Naruto and Sasuke, for now, I want you to create threads of chakura, like this. "At this point Itachi demonstrated what he wanted them to do. Create a thread of chakura that could be attached to anything. Also a very useful technique in battle. After the two started working, Itachi left them with instructions to create chakura threads as long as the field and then to weave them, all of them being perfect or they would have to start over again.

Walking past to were Sakura stood patiently waiting and watching her teammates, Itachi told her to follow him and continued to walk to the stream that was near the meadow. Walking to the center of the stream, Itachi finally stopped and turned to look at Sakura. Sakura followed him out onto the middle of the water, using Chakura to stay on top of the water. Not really having to think about the shifts she need to make to stay afloat. "Good, you don't have to think to stay on top. That's good, you're going to need that to do these excercises. First, I want 500 push-ups, 500 situps, and 500 laps, laps are going to be 50 kilometers down stream, and back, a total of 100 kilometers. All on the water, it will help build your muscles as well as your chakura reserves."

Knowing that this was going to make her tired and sore. She decided to go ahead and not try and argue the point that she would probably collapse during these exercises, she responded with "hai." And dropped down to start on the 500 required push-ups. Thirty minutes later and already starting to feel tired, she started on her sit-ups. Itachi just standing there watching and counting, making sure she did everyone of them. An hour later, she finished the sit-ups and went ahead and started on the laps that she had to do. Itachi had left once to make sure that they guys where doin the threads right, she knew how to do those. It was part of training Tsuande had made her go through. And judging by the shouts coming from the area right before Itachi came back, they had done them wrong and were being made to redo them. They probably made them too thick to be invisible, which was the goal. Smirking at the thought that should could actually out do them on chakura control, she continued her laps, 10 down, only 490 left to go, oh, goodie.

She was starting to get really tired, her steps were getting slower and slower, finally a couple of hours later, Itachi called a halt to her training. Slowly walking to the shore, she asked "Itachi-kun, why are you stopping me? I still have 250 more laps to do."

"You are extremely low on chakura, your goal for the next week will be to work up to 500 laps, seven days. You've done well, better than I expected. So you should be able to build it up, just make sure you relax after you finished, and that you stretch, but you know both of those things. Come one, want to see something funny. They can't get the threads small enough, if you really wanted to, you know you could show them up." Itachi just had a grin on his face, knowing that her showing her teammates up would really irk the two of them, and thinking it might be fun, she agreed. She slowly meandered over to where Sasuke and Naruto were trying to make nearly invisible strings made of chakura and watched them for a little while. Deciding that she was tired of waiting, she carefully molded the chakura into thin threads that were too hard to see. She then went around the clearing and set traps that she knew the would walk in to. After she finished, she walked to the center and waited for Itachi to tell them that they were done for the day.

After giving Sakura time to set up the traps and move to the center of the field, Itachi walked to the center and called out for their attention. When Naruto and Sasuke came to the middle of the field, Itachi said "ok, we're done here for the day, you two still have a LONG way to go until your control is refined as Sakura's. So let's call it a night, I'll see you tomorrow, here, at 10 a.m. Get some rest, you're going to need it, you will do this until you get it right. So see you tomorrow."

Sasuke and Naruto both turned to go in their respective directions for their homes. Sakura and Itachi just stood there, waiting. After a few minutes they heard both of the boys yelling into the evening and cursing Sakura for being so damn good and sneaky on top of it. Sakura just started to laugh and headed for her apartment that was on the other side of town. She wanted to be alone to think for a while.

Itachi just watched her leave, something about her fascinated him, he wasn't sure why, but she did. He just wished that he knew what he could do about it. Maybe after helping them, they could talk about this, and maybe, just maybe, she could develop something for him, something he could work off of.


	4. The Testing Begins

**Goodday, Ladies and Gents:**

**I do not own Naruto, wish I did, but that's life.**

**I have officially finished the story line, which means that I hope I can spit out these chapters a bit faster for you. I'm currently working on the next chapter, it's about half done as I type this. I was going to have this chapter up the other day, but the internet for my university is being funny (normal for it) and I wasn't able to pull up the page. Thank you for the correction of the mistypes in here and as always, glad you are enjoy reading what I'm enjoying writing. So, without further ado, enjoy!**

**XXXXXX**

Sakura sat at her nightstand and studied her reflection. She hated the fact that her hair made her stand out. So many people thought it was fake; she had tried to dye it once, it didn't work out what-so-ever. So abandoning that avenue she kept the pink hair. After brushing her hair, she started to get up to go shower when there was a knock on the door. Sighing over the fact that her quiet evening was being inturrupted. Looking out through the peephole she saw Lee standing out there.

"Hi, Lee, what are you doing here?"

"Sakura, I came to see if you would spar with me tomorrow. I know Itachi is trying to build up your stamina and chakura reserves, and we hardly ever see eachother anymore, with all of the missions that we have."

Sakura thought for a minute before giving a postive answer and leaving him with the excuse that she was tired and needed sleep; all but closing the door in his face when she left.

Back inside her apartment and left to her own thoughts, she slowly stripped off her clothes for the long,hot shower she needed. Lee rarely sought her out now, he had long since gotten over her and they enjoyed just being friends. About once a month or so, he would come and ask her to spar, she always accepted. They were friends, they were comfortable with her. His girlfriend really didn't mind. She was from Sand and the two of them would take missions together as a sign of peace between the two countries. They countries were working together more often ever year. Naruto and Gaara often did missions together as well. Tsuande seemed to be preparing him to take over in her place. Trying to prepare the elders as well, she wouldn't like them to give him hell.

She thought back over the years, Sasuke, Naruto and her had all grown up well. Naruto would be hokage; his dream finally recognized. Sasuke had his brother back; that would be good from the looks of it. He had missed his brother. But she . . . she had her independence. Kakashi had stopped looking after the three of them a few years ago. Her two teammates had their own lives, something to live for. But she was still looking. It always felt like she didn't quite belong, she wasn't sure how, but that's how it felt. Getting out of the shower and drying off, Sakura wrapped the towel around her body and walked slowly to her room. She didn't mind being alone. She had been for years. After her jounin exam, she had moved out of her parents house and didn't have much contact with them. They tended to be a little extreme and did not take her moving out very well; all but disowning her. She joined them for holidays, but for the most part, to her they really didn't exist. She had her apartment, her friends, and her work. She loved it all, but sometimes, like tonight, it felt like it wasn't enough, like she wasn't complete. Having no idea what brought on the meloncoly, she walked into her room and grabbed clean bedclothes. Quickly changing and wrapping her hair to dry with another towel, she moved to the living room to watch some TV before bed. Going into the kitchen, she made some popcorn and grabbed a soda for a snack. Once settled on the couch with the food and blanket and remote, she flipped on the TV and started to skip through the channels. Finding a movie on TV that she had wanted to see in theatres but was gone for. About fifteen minutes into the movie she flipped it off; aggrivated. She DID NOT want to watch a love movie too night. She was already all but depressed and that wasn't going to help. She was lonely. Flat out, and for tonight, and tonight only, she could admit that to herself. Getting up and clearing away her snack, she moved to go to bed.

**XXXXXX**

Itachi stood there for several minutes wondering what was it about this house that drew him like a iron filings to a magnet. He couldn't move, couldn't think.

**XXXXXX**

Sakura came to the window, drawn to it. Something or someone was outside, but she didn't feel it as a threat. It was almost like something was out there protecting her from all of the 'things that go bump in the night.' She waited at the window for what seemed like forever but at the same time seemed like it was a mere instant of time. She looked at the clock and realized she had been standing at the window for almost two hours. Finally able to break out of whatever it was drawing her there, she backed up into the room, not quite able to look away yet, and sat on the couch, trying to put her mind back together. A few minutes later, she got up and went back to her nightly routines. After she crawled in bed, it took her a only a few minutes to fall asleep. The protected feeling still wrapped around her mind.

**XXXXXX**

Itachi finally turned and left to head back to his apartment. Upon arriving there, he saw his front door was cracked and the light was on inside. Drawing a kunai out of his pouch on his right leg, Itachi slowly crept foward while keeping his Chakra concealed. Pushing the door open, he saw Sasuke sitting on his couch watching TV. "Um, Itachi, what are you doing with that kunai"

"I saw my door cracked and the light on, what do you think," Itachi replied standing back up to full height.

"Sorry, I just thought you would be home by now and was curious as to why you weren't"

"I decided took a walk"

"That must have been a really great walk"

"Why do you say that"

"Practice has been over for about four hours"

Looking at the clock near the TV, Itachi realized that Sasuke was right. Still in disbelief that he could have been gone that long, Itachi said "Hey, Sasuke, if it's not that important, do you think we could talk tomorrow? I need to think for a while"

"Yeah, sure, Mom and Dad just wanted you to come to dinner this Saturday night, they're going to keep it to just the five of us"

"The five of us? Who's the fifth"

"They had a daughter about a year ago, I didn't want to tell you right when you got back, or at a time where it might upset you, but I figured you might find out at dinner"

"Wow, a little sister. What's her name"

"Kaori, she's beautiful. And mom finally got the daughter she wanted"

"I imagine, Uchiha Kaori, it's a beautiful name"

"I'm going to leave you to your thinking. I'll see you tomorrow at 9"

"OK, goodnight"

Closing the door behind himself, Sasuke left his older brother to his thoughts. He had forgotten that Itachi hadn't met Kaori yet. She was the light of all of their lives, she had learned to crawl and was creating havoc. She had them all wrapped around her little finger, and she knew it.

**XXXXXX**

Itachi walked to his kitchen to get something to munch on. After grabbing an apple, he continued to walk to the back of his small apartment. The bedroom was on the left and the bathroom was on the right off of the short hallway. Turning left into his bedroom, he found the clothes he would wear tomorrow for practice and then afterward dinner at his parents house. He had a little sister, Kaori. He had never met her, but there she was. He never imagined that, though. His parents were nearing 50 now, they weren't young, but there was a 25 year gap between him and his sister.

Walking to the bathroom as he finished the last few bites of his apple, he decided to go ahead and take a shower before he slept. Turning on the water, he waited for it to get warm while he stripped down. Systematically going through the process of getting clean, he thought about tonight. The odd sensation of being pulled toward that house for some unknown reason. He was not one to just do things on a whim, he thought them out. He had to, his survival and livelyhood depended on it. He was the best of the best, and it didn't come cheaply. Being that he had to leave his home for seven years, stay out in the wild, and depend only on himself. He was going to go for ANBU, he could make it, but what was wrong with him.

Finishing his shower, he stepped out of the tub and dried off with the towel hanging on the back of the bathroom door. After drying off, he decided to completely shut down his mind for the rest of the night, and went to bed.

**XXXXXX**

Itachi got up the next morning and got dressed for training. He need to practice some jutsus and supervise the continuing training for the next while. They were learning at a fairly quick speed, and each of the three of them had their own strengths and weaknesses. Sakura's stamina and strength were increasing at an almost exponential rate. Sasuke's and Naruto's chakra control was getting better, but were not moving as quickly as Sakura's. Being dressed and ready for todays adventures, Itachi left his apartment and headed for the bridge near the clearing.

Sakura carefully prepared for her day of running, pushups and sit-ups to be done on the water. She was getting stronger, she could feel it, everyday she lasted longer and was less sore. Her body didn't complain as much and she didn't have to sleep as much as she did when she first started these exercises. Itachi knew what he was talking about and knew how to push the body without pushing it past the breaking point. She left her house and headed for the bridge to meet her two teammates and Itachi.

The month passed much the same as the first few days of Itachi being back. He went to the dinner with his family and then started to spend almost every evening with them, getting reaquained. Kaori as adorable, she was shy towards him a first, hiding behind his mother's dress, but warmed up to him after dinner when he got down on the floor to play with him. He soon became her favorite person, she would reject everyone else in favor of him.

Itachi prepared for his ANBU tests knowing that they might not be the hardest thing he ever faced, but they weren't going to be the easiest either. Walking into the ANBU headquarters the morning of his first test, the Shikumaru was there to greet him. Being led into the back, Itachi saw a table sitting in the middle of the room he entered. He was waved over to the table and told to sit and wait.

After about an hour of waiting, an ANBU that he didn't know (who was also wearing a mask) came into the room. "Morning. I'm here to test your mental skills for ANBU. There will be today and tomorrow of testing here, and then we'll let you know if you are to continue with the testing." Handing Itachi a stack of what looked like a couple hundred pages of multiple choice and fill in the blank questions, Itachi took a pencil from the stack sitting on the table and began his test. At about five o'clock, he finally finished the stack of papers and handed them to the ANBU member. The papers were then put into a bag and taken to Shikumaru for him to start filing through. One badly answered question and you were guaranteed not to make ANBU. There were many things that ANBU had to do, being an entity that worked almost always in the shadows, so being every suspiciously unstable would mean that you would not be accepted.

The second day of testing continued much as the first and Itachi finished in about the same amount of time. Being mentally exhausted and knowing that if one thing was off this would be his last day of testing, since they don't allow for retesting for 3 years and he would have had to have a mental evaluation on top of it all. Leaving the ANBU headquarters, he went down to the market to get some fresh vegitables and meat for dinner.

"Itachi?"

Whipping around to see who would be calling his name here of all places, he saw Sakura and startled at the sight of her. She looked tired, like she had been running around in the underbrush of the woods or something. "Sakura, what happened to you?"


	5. 19 not 12

**Goodday, one and all. Sorry for taking so long. I really had hoped to have this and the next chapter done by now, but my teachers saw fit to do otherwise. And as this is the week of my spring break, I was able to finish up this chapter and start working a little on the other story that has been in my head for a while. So they will prolly come as they may. **

**My Disclaimers: I do not in any fashion own naruto, as awesome as it is. Also if you can figure out my spelling (since it has always one of my worse subjects), then I promise I didn't mean to misspell it, but I'm not going to go in and fix it in chapters already posted. But I do appreciate the caring. But enough of the seriousness. I have like five million more things to do today, so enjoy!**

**XXXXXXXXXX **

"Oh, I was able to complete all of you tasks without even having to stop to catch my breath, so I took to sparring against Naruto and Sasuke at the same time. It didn't work out too well on my side, but I'm getting better. The fight lasted for about four hours before we all stopped."

Stunned that she would be able to do so much so quickly, he just stood there looking at her.

"So, how did the testing go?"

"Oh, um ... it went ok, I guess. They'll have the results for me tomorrow to let me know if I'm getting the boot or if I'll continue the testing."

"Who's 'grading' your test?"

"Shikumaru. He's your age, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is dating Ino, they just moved in together. They've been together for a few years now. You should remember her, she used to be my 'rival,' but we're back to being best friends again. Anyway, I should probably let you get back to whatever it is you need to do, I just wanted to see how your testing went these last couple of days. Good luck on your tests coming up, not that you need it." Grinning, Sakura ran off in the direction from which she had come and made a big wave towards him.

'Well, that was definately an interesting meeting.' Continuing on to the market, Itachi picked up some vegitables and a couple of steaks thinking that it would hold him for a few days atleast.

Sakura rounded the corner and stopped fast enough to startle a couple of passersby on the sidewalk. She just stood there, why in the hell had she run off like that? Better question, why in the hell did he set her nerves on end like that? He made her nervous, and not a bad kind of nervous. She just didn't know what to do about him. She had come to know him some over the meals that the four of them had spent together and had also come to understand some of how he thought. He intrigued her.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Itachi stood there trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. She was becoming more and more of a mystery as he got to know her. Tsunade informed him that she wanted to see him as soon as he finished his testing, believing without a doubt that he would pass with flying colors.

'Well, tomorrow's another day,' he thought to himself, 'with even more testing to come. Next would be his weapons test, a day of testing for that, and then two days of jutsu testing.'

After getting through in the market with dinner in hand, he headed back to his apartment, all the while still pondering Sakura's behavior earlier. Getting back to his apartment without running into anyone else to disturb his thoughts was easier than he would have thought. He quietly cooked his dinner and thought about what he was going to do once he was finished with his testing. Thinking going out with his brother and Sasuke's friends seemed like it would be fun. Deciding he would call him later tonight, he ate his dinner and found the book he had been reading recently, hoping to finish it soon.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Sakura sat at her vanity looking at her reflection. Irritated with her appearance, she picked up the brush and started brushing through her pink locks. She was tired mentally and physically. She couldn't get Itachi out of her mind and she had realized this afternoon, after her run in with him, that she had started to develop feelings for him. She didn't know what to do anymore. Life was just too damn confusing sometimes. Her parents were gone on a mission, they were rarely there, being one of the best two people teams that Kohona had, but she really didn't mind; well, not as she got older anyway. She enjoyed the quiet, being on her. She loved her family, but she didn't crave the kind of attention that she used to. She had learned to be self suffient, and reminding herself that self suffient meant getting to her duties on time, which meant she needed sleep, she slipped into bed and quickly fell asleep.

**XXXXXXXXX**

The next morning, Itachi arrived at the ANBU headquarters to await the results of the mental part of the test. He walked into the building and immideatly he was greeted by Shikumaru.

"Good morning, Itachi."

"Good morning. So does this your greeting me again mean I pass or that you're about to kick me out of the building," Itachi replied, smiling so it was known he was joking.

"You passed it, with flying colors. So congrats on that part. It's the hardest for most and the most troublesome for me. Today you will do your weapons testing with Tenten. She will test you on weapons, of course, but also on hand to hand combat. She will be the deciding factor this time to see if you will continue to your testing. Good luck, you'll need it." Smirking, Shikumaru left Itachi to wait on Tenten to show up.

Tenten walked in the door about five minutes after Itachi was left to his own devices in the ANBU headquarters.

"Hello, Itachi, I'm Tenten, I'll be testing your weapons and hand-to-hand combat skills. I'm sure you already figured that out if you weren't told."

"Yes, ma'am. And I didn't know that weapon masters could be so pretty," Itachi replied grinning.

"Flattery won't get you anyway, well, not too far, anyway," Tenten replied with a grin of her own. "Now if you'll follow me, we're going to go into the woods for this part so that we won't get in anyone's way." Turning towards the door, Tenten started to walk out of the building, leading the way to the clearing of her choice.

**XXXXXXXX**

Itachi spent all day throughing kunei, shuriken and any other weapon he could find. He had to aim at targets and at Tenten's replications. He nailed every one perfectly. He then had to fight hand-to-hand with her; no weapons and no offensive jutsu's. It was a test of his taijutsu abilities.

As the sun started to set, Tenten finally called a halt to the test and the two walked back to the ANBU headquarters.

"Itachi, I'll inform Shikumaru that you passed this part of the test. I'll see him later at dinner anyway. You know Ino, she likes for all of us that went to the Achedemy together to have dinner once in a while; and she's rather insistant about it." Grinning, Tenten left him in the office before he could thank her.

Leaving the ANBU headquarters, Itachi slowly walked back to his apartment. He was tired and it had been a long day of hard fighting. Tenten may look like a push over, but that was the farthest thing from the truth, she may be small, but man could she fight. He had been wondering if he was going to pass her test, she was demanding, but she knew her stuff.

Getting to his apartment, he unlocked the door and walked inside. He still had nothing but the bare furniture.

**XXXXXXXX**

Sakura sat in a restaurant with Ino, who was, as usual, going on about guys, in general, Shikumaru in particular. She had zoned out after the fifth 'Shikumaru says.'

After an hour of listening to Ino, Sakura made her excuses to leave and walked out of the restaurant with Ino. Sakura turned toward the park with the memorial, she liked to be there and just sit and meditate sometimes. To gather her thoughts in the hectic life that she lived. She needed to meditate now. Thoughts of Itachi were coming too quickly and too frequently. Ino was headed in the other direction, thankfully. After an hour of listening to her, Sakura was ready to just get away from people.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Upon reaching the memorial park, Sakura found the tree that seemed to have built it's roots just for her, it was the perfect tree for the arch of her back and around her thighs. She sat down, and settled herself. The tree faced the memorial, reminding her of those who had died to save others. Their selflessness being nothing short of amazing. She admired them, wishing that if her time came for that, she would be able to make the same sacrafice without a second thought. She loved Kohona, and loving being a shinobi. But life wasn't easy. She was sure that one day, she would be asked to lay her life on the line for everyone and everything that she loved.

Closing her eyes, she focused her thoughts, focused her chakra, and focused her breathing.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Itachi came to the memorial to think about how hectic life had been since his return. He had not moved in with his parents, and he doubted he ever would. He had become too antisocial to live with anyone again. He had been gone in the wilderness for so many years that it was nothing short of amazing he could still function normally in society.

Upon gaining the memorial, Itachi saw he was not alone. From the looks of it, Sakura had fallen asleep by up against a tree, her breathing was even and her chakra wasn't doing anything abnormal either. He prepared to move closer to see if she was asleep or was just wanting some privacy.

"Itachi-kun, what are you doing here?" The voice startled him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Sakura still sitting there with her eyes closed and her breathing even. She hadn't spoken loudly, but he could hear her clearly from several meters away.

"Itachi-kun, I know you're there, please answer me." Her voice was beginning to show irritation from something. He wasn't sure if it was because he was there or if it was because he hadn't immidetly answered.

"Sakura, sorry, I didn't realize anyone else was here."

"You're not here to check on me, are you?"

"No, why would I? You seem to be perfectly capable of handling and taking care of yourself."

"Naruto and Sasuke worry about me, and occasionally get other people to check on me when I meditate or when they haven't seen me for a few days. They don't understand that I'm not who I was a couple of years ago. Sasuke in particular doesn't understand that."

"Why do you say that?"

"I've rejected every advance he has tried to make. He still thinks I should be in love with him. It was a childhood crush, nothing more, nothing less."

"My, my, aren't you the cynical one."

"Well," Itachi had been walking slowly towards her as they talked and now stood about 2 meters away from her, "to them, it's sorry to say, that you're still the little girl that they used to know. They probably just want to protect you."

"Yeah, I know, that's why I don't let it bother me too much. They only act the way they do because they care. I just wish they would see that I'm not twelve years old anymore, but 19. I haven't told them yet, but I'm planning on joining ANBU. Will you endorse me?"

"Yeah, sure. I've seen your skills, you'll definately make the cut; you've got the skills and too much guts not to."

"Tsuande is going to endorse me as my Sensai. I thought about asking Kakashi, but I couldn't find him. So, oh, well."

"Well, good luck with it, but I think you'll do well." Itachi looked at her as he said this last part to see what her reaction would be. For some reason it was important for her to know that he had faith in her abilities.

"Thank you," was the only stoic response he got from her. Turning to leave he thought he saw a smile grace her lips for a split second before it was replaced with her blank facial expression once again.

Itachi left with him mind running in circles about the pink haired beauty that haunted his thoughts without remorse. He was unsure about what to do with her. One minute he was ready to get to know her better than anyone else ever has, and the next he wanted to get as far from her as possible. Approaching that ANBU headquarters, he went in to talk to Shikamoru about Sakura possibly joining the ANBU and announcing that he would endorse her.


End file.
